“Since Pixelmator launched just over two months ago, we’ve been incredibly focused on harnessing the full power of Mac OS X,” said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. “And now with Core Image units, Quartz Composer compositions support, and the Quick Look plug-in, Pixelmator proves once again that it is one of the most innovative real-Mac OS X applications.”

Pixelmator significantly outshines other applications with its powerful Mac OS X standards-based plug-in architecture, which not only takes advantage of Core Image units, but is also the first product to bring Quartz Composer compositions to image editing. Every version of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard comes with a free Quartz Composer application that can be used to create almost any possible filter for use with Pixelmator and any other application that supports Quartz Composer compositions.

Pixelmator’s new built-in Quick Look plug-in makes it possible to view almost any of more than 100 image file formats supported by Pixelmator, without having to launch the application itself. The Pixelmator’s Quick Look plug-in is a significant enhancement not only for Pixelmator, but also for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, because there are some exotic file formats supported by Pixelmator’s Quick Look plug-in that were not previously supported by Mac OS X.

In addition to graphics tablet support, Pixelmator 1.1 Kitten also features over 80 new filters, improved Leopard compatibility, and bug fixes.

Comments

Would it be possible to release the quicklook plugin as a standalone download? I think this would be a useful thing for all not-yet-pixelmator-users. I have bought a license some days ago, but I think that we definitely need more open QuickLook plugins. 🙂

Also this new version 1.1 is unusable. I’ve created a simple file with 3000×3000 pixels. The brush is very slow, especially when moving the mouse fast, I can’t draw a circle. The undo function is very slow. Also that I don’t see the spinning ball directly is annoying, as I don’t see if PM accepts input or not. Transformations are also not so fast. I can’t see any hardware acceleration. The processor based Photoshop is much much faster even on Images with 20000×20000 pixels. If the speed depends on core image then PM is not usable for me. I’ve a 24″ iMac with 3 GB, 2,16 GHz and a GeForce 7300 GT.

Photoshop is also much much more expensive. If you already own a copy of Photoshop I can’t understand why you even consider switching to Pixelmator. There’s no doubt that Photoshop is far more advanced and better than Pixelmator but for me and others that don’t have $650 to spend on Photoshop, Pixelmator is a godsend.

I fully agree with you that Pixelmator is slow when working with high resolution pictures but since it’s not made with print production in mind I don’t see that as a big problem.

Consider that Pixelmator have only been on the market for a few month and is still a 1.* version. I think the guys are doing a great job and I’m following the advancements of the program with great interest.

Looking good, but the Quicklook plug in isn’t working for me. I installed the update via Sparkle (yesterday maybe? Early today? I can’t remember, but its been long enough for it to take effect on its own). Unless, of course, it doesn’t support its own .pxm format. Any one get it working?

Hm, well, I know I said I promised I’d buy it when the tablet support came out, but the current tablet support isn’t that good. The lack of subpixel positioning on the brushes is bad enough, but it seems that the brush sizes are also heavily quantized, making even simple brush strokes look quite terrible.

I’ll probably buy a copy anyway to support your future development, though, but I’ve felt burned by that sort of deal in the past (with other shareware apps that I wanted to support the future development on and ended up costing quite a lot over the next several years while still not actually getting the “basic” functionality I needed – one extreme case of this was Intuem, which I ended up spending several hundred dollars on with the hope of getting something cheaper than Logic, and ending up paying about what Logic Express costs without anything useful to show for it).

I know I shouldn’t take one bad experience with Mac shareware out on you guys, but on the other hand, one burned, twice shy… (and of course I’ve also had some GOOD experiences with shareware getting free upgrades well beyond my expectations, too)

Hey, looks awsome. Just one question: the fact that you released the Kitten now does that mean that in fact there wasnt a leak in CoreImage or that there was a workaround for it? I have not seen an OS X update recently, so I guess you could solve the problem withouth mothership’s action.

oh believe me, Apple worked like crazy to find a workaround for that Core Image leak. And they did found a near-perfect workaround. Anyway, I still believe that next Leopard update will feature a complete fix.

Hi, the Pixelmator Quicklook plugin does not seem to work for me either. If it does, then it doesn’t support Pixelmator’s own .PXM file format. I was able to view the other image formats (excluding PXM) with Finder’s Quicklook before this version anyway. Can someone confirm whether their PXM files work with quicklook?

How about you have a section on your website with popular filter plug-ins, similar to TextMate’s bundles? I think that’d help a lot of people who don’t feel like hunting the net for the correct filter.

Very excited about the developments. I was saving up for CS3, but it seems that Pixelmator has most of the features I need. It is also reassuring that you guys add features so quickly and are concerned with quality of code.

I’m starting a pretty big web design project, so Pixelmator is going to be my best friend for years to come!

I was truly hoping (especially for a .1 update) for the ability to constrain things like gradient fills. By this, I mean the ability to hold down Cmd or Shift to constrain the angle at which it’s drawn to multiples of 90 or 45 degrees. This is positively essential for speedy and efficient modern graphics work and is one of those basic touches that is sorely missed. This kind of thing is what prevents me from moving to Pixelmator rather than purchasing CS3. Please, guys, address these usability issues next so I don’t have to pay the Adobe Tax again.

As a full-time graphic designer I have been working with Photoshop on a daily basis since version 6 was the “thing.” Pixelmater is a wonderful and welcome new program. Its work environment is gorgeous – fitting for the Mac design world. I look forward to its maturing as a complete and well-rounded design tool, including for-print layout.

Wish List:
Till then I’d love to see short-cut keys become stronger in the design-flow. Free Transform (and things of the like) are made tiresome when having to access a drop-down menu to another drop-down menu.

Holding a key to keep images scale when in Free Transform would be great. As well as Free Transform for text.

Brush sizes don’t work well for print applications – way too small.

I know it’s not Photoshop but would make it a lot easier for people (regardless of background) to get on-board.
All in all I look forward for to its progression. I’ll be checking up on it regularly.
Blessings, guys! Great work!

I need progressive images for my website. I was not aware that Pixelmator removed the ability to save progressive jpeg files. Now my website images load line by line top-down, rather than progressively. Will the ability to save progressive jpegs be added back in a future release?